Never Turn Back
by CelestiallBolt
Summary: Sword Art Online was all over the news, the players couldn't log out until the game was beaten but the fear of death wasn't in Rose and it always had a dream of living a Massively Multi-player Online Role-playing game as if it was real and now was her chance. Entering the game three months late didn't make her at a disadvantage with her background.
1. Chapter 1

It had been Three months since Sword Art Online was released and the whole world went into a craze. Every copy that was brought,every person who plugged in never came out,not yet anyway. It was a mess but in the eyes of one girl it was heaven. To be stuck in a MMORPG ( Massively Multiplier Online Role-playing Game) such as Sword Art was here dream. Even after the constant new reports of the players who had come to a tragic end because of dying inside the game or by the acts of their loved one trying to removed their Nerve gear. In both ways the brain was fried and they never walked again. After a few weeks of the game being online some to most players had a temporary shut down which was due to the bodies of the living being moved to hospitals so that they wouldn't have the same fate as the unfortunate ones.

However this didn't put Rose off wanting to be involved in the this. She had been waiting for the right time to enter the game,she knew it would be hectic right at the start and she was very much used to MMORPG's so she knew she would catch up right away, she waited until the third month to finally enter her dream world. She knew it was reckless and stupid but if she died inside the game she would die happy. The real world didn't treat her with the compassion it should of as she was a very isolated person.

Rose entered her home after finishing her afternoon classes at school. She rushed up the stairs in such a hurry that she tripped over the last step and tumbled down the hall, into her bedroom door. She rubbed her head gently as she stood up. There was no time for this! After scanning the perfectly organized shelf that was purely made to fit her constantly growing collecting of games for all consoles and PC's she finally found the game and slowly slotted it into the drive. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself.

" Today is the day. Today I enter my dream world and beat Sword Art Online no matter what the cost!" She let a smile slip onto her lips as she plugged her nerve gear in and laid down on her soft bed before slipping the equipment onto her head. A moment passed before she finally spoke the words she had longed to speak for three months.

"Link start!"

As she uttered those words the system booted up and the settings were corrected. Before she knew it she was transported into the town of beginnings. It took her a few minutes to get used to how her body moved in this world but surprisingly she had the same look. She patted down herself to see if it was real and it was. Her long black hair that cascaded down her back was the same, her bright emerald eyes that seemed to shimmer in the light and even the way she felt was all her but in a different place,a different world and she felt like she could take on anything. After the initially first moment shock she knew exactly what to do. She needed a weapon more importantly she needs money and XP to level up. Being used to how this type of game was run it came almost second nature to her on how to act and how to level up with ease.


	2. Chapter 2

A month. It had been a month since Rose entered her dream world inside Sword Art Online and four months since every other player had be in this place. Even though she was late in Rose was no means behind the others. She worked on the front line daily, hardly stopping for resting. It was too much fun to her which got her a strange reputation with some players. She was enjoying herself too much but she was solo. She knew what she wanted to do and being part of a guild wasn't in that description. It didn't help that other players thought it was reckless and completely ridiculous for a player to enter this realm knowing it could be the end of her life, but that why she was here. If she was going to stop breathing she wanted it to be here.

It had been a few weeks of constant front line work and research but she had finally tracked down the boss of level thirty. However before she headed out she knew it was a good idea to stock up of health potions and other essentials just in case they were needed. She walked down the pebbled street. Her appearance only change by her clothes. As she wasn't part of a guild there was no guild member uniform to wear but instead she wore white laced boots that fitted above her knees which she won on level 15 after destroying the boss in his lair on her own. She didn't believe in armour as it weighed her down and her speed as well as her acrobatics were part of her success in this world.

Once she had stocked up on everything that she needed,she headed over to the blacksmith. It hadn't been long since she was here last time,bringing in a blunt swords was part of her routine. Being on the front line so much caused her weapons to become blunt or even shatter from time to time. As she entered the building, she let her eyes scan the store for anything that would be worth picking up while she was here. She passed over the shields as like Armour she felt like they slowed her down and her speed was part of who she was here and how she became this high up in levels after only a short time. A shield would of saved her a few time in the past. She thought about this as a flash back came to her.

* * *

I had been a warm week, which caused Rose to work harder than normal on the front line. The constant work and lack of rest was starting to interfere with her concentration. Today was the day she was going to clear level twenty and move up finally. It had taken her far too long in her case to find the boss lair which didn't sit well with her to start with but the day just got worse. The news of a player entering the game after everyone else was finally out, she had tried to keep it to herself for as long as possible but it was out and there was nothing she could of done about it. She didn't mind as long as no one got in her way but she wasn't given that luxury today.

Rose began to make her way to the boss room: solo like always. However she felt something following her. Her searching skill wasn't terrible high so she couldn't detect whether it was a player or just a stray animal that wandered around, feeding on the loose grass of this world. Being someone who always traveled and worked alone she kept a eye out for any subtle movements of her surroundings while she carried on her search. It took another ten minutes of constant rustling of the bushes for her tolerance to drop to Zero. Her fists curled up into balls before taking a deep,calming breath. Rose drew her long- sword out quickly from her back and sprinted towards the bushes. Rose's skill level was mostly confined in speed and acrobatics, that was excluding her skills with a long sword of course. Her reaction were as sharp as drawing pin due to her speed skill so as she swung her sword at the bush she slashed it downwards into the bush, only millimeters away from the players hiding among the leaved and twigs.

She closed her eyes as she returned her weapon to it's pride of place on her back. " Didn't you know it is rude to be spying on a girl?" Her words let her mouth as a small smirk formed on her lips. The player that was in the bushes took a few moments to compose himself before standing up and addressing her. He was clearly part of a guild. The uniform gave it away for her instantly but what she didn't know is why he would be following her.

" I wouldn't call it spying..more of an observation to see what you were really capable of. " He spoke in an almost confident yet down to earth voice of a leader.

"Ah,so you must be the guild leader of the Red Dragons, Kyo right ? "

"Yes,that's correct and we want you to join our guild. We could really use someone like you. what do you say?"

Rose slowly moved her eyes focus onto his and stayed silent for a few moments before shaking her head.

"No, I work alone. I do things solo and that doesn't put others in danger. I came here late to beat this game and work my butt off for it. I came here to live my dream and I don't think I will ever need a guild. I'm capable on my own" She stated to him. He suddenly got a look of disappointment and sadness on his face and she knew he wasn't going to give up.

"Every player needs at least one partner. What if I make a deal with you " He immediately reacted with. He paused a moment before speaking her name which she used for the game " Yumi?"

He had her there, maybe he was right? Maybe having at least one more person would be ideal. "I will make you a deal. You and I form a party to beat the boss. If we win then I will become part of your guild but until then I will not join your guild, is that a deal?" The deal didn't sit well with him but he felt like he had no other choice to the matter so he agreed to her terms.

They never got near to the lair of the boss that day, or the next not even that week. Kyo seemed to be dragging out the process and it was itching at Rose to the point of her almost snapping at him after another day of barely any work. "Kyo!" She slammed down her mug onto the two chair table situated in a small pub they were sitting in. They had come here to eat to regain their energy.

"We need to talk. When are we going to head to the boss? I know where it is and what to do. Why are you dragging this out?" Rose had to admit that Kyo was indeed growing on her but she still wanted to move up to the next level and becoming part of his guild was becoming less and less of a chore and more of a good idea. He looked up at her with his crooked smile and just laughed.

"Come on, is it that much a chore to sit here and have a good old drink we a close friend?"

"Well, no but it's been two or three weeks and I thought you wanted me to be part of your guild?"

"Oh, poor little oblivious Yumi. Of course I do but there are bigger things happening here" He reached over for her had and her face adopted a red blush that scribbled across her cheeks. She had no words,none at all. A million things running through her head _why is my heart thumbing like this? why is he doing this? This is only a job isn't it? _

She gave in to the moment even if her bold side was fighting it with every inch of her being. That was it was and then moments later he let go and broke the silence was his gorgeous laugh.

"Come on,Yumi. We better get some sleep if we are going to track and beat this boss tomorrow" A smile automatically came to her lips. It was finally happening, so she stood up quickly from the table and knocking her chair over in the process. "Oops" and with that she ran out of the pub to get the sleep she had been needing for a long time.

The next morning Rose was up bright and early even after not getting much sleep yet again but she was used to it by now. Rose was early,she was always early for everything so she sat down on an idle brick wall and soaked in the first rays of the sun as she waited for Kyo to turn up.

The sun had reached the top of the buildings and the gleam was shinning in her eyes telling her it had been too long since she had began waiting so she decided to go ahead alone after all she worked her best on her own. Before she knew it she was on the narrow path back towards the boss's lair , the same road she first met Kyo on. she walked past the spot in which she almost sliced him with her sword. She was making great time, in fact it was too good and before she knew it she was being attacked but not by any minions of the boss but a group of rouge players. She was back in her element as she slid her sword out of its protective case and eyes each players,almost challenging them to attack her.

She bolted for them, running at half her normal speed, jumping from rock to rock so that she would have an altitude advantage to the other players. Before they knew it she had swiped her sword across the air and two of the players HP bar zipped down from green to yellow and finally through red until they shattered into a million pieces and became just a part of the thousands of players that had lost their lives in this virtual world. She was now head on head with one more player. She knew she could take him on but just as she was bringing her sword up to give the player a blow of her sword she got distracted by a familiar voice behind her trying to get her attention. She turned around and saw Kyo running towards her with his swords raised high. That was her mistake. Her attacker took this moment of her lower guard to strike her in the back, which did an incredible amount of damage to her health points and she tumbled to the ground with a lot of force. She knew her mistake, she never should of got distracted by another person,or anything and maybe,just maybe if she had a shield she could of halved the damage to herself, she was a fool.

With Kyo's anger was causing too much chaos in his attacks and as soon as Rose's health points had replenished into the yellow status she staggered to her feet and delivers the finally blow to the rouge player but not before he did the same to Kyo. She watched his health point disappear in a blink of an eye. She was completely taken away with both shock and incredibly sadness. Without delay she ran to his side and held him in her eyes. Rose never shed teas or even showed any emotions towards others but this time,in this moment she couldn't stop them., her salty tears running down her face as she stared into Kyo's eyes" Kyo.. no, you shouldn't of done that,your so reckless"

Even though he only had moments left he still managed to let out a laugh "You can't speak about reckless,you came here all on your own. I told you, no being solo." She didn't care for his words right now,she knew he only had a few moments so she did what she knew had to be done and wanted to be done. She leaned her face close to his even though her tears were still falling at an uncontrollable rate and pressed her lips again his. It only lasted for a second or two before he shattered into tiny shards.

She vowed never join a guild.


End file.
